The Prairie Spy

Alan “Lindy” Linda

It is a good year for raising apples. A learning year, of course, as is every  year with apples—maybe not so much the apples themselves, the trees upon which they grow.

With all the Amish neighbors surrounding us here, we now have a working apple relationship with a family, headed by a man with experience with apples. That’s relevant. It’s a learning thing for him, too, since his experience was far south of here. He’s helping with half of the trees, 40 of them.

We still hang the apple maggot traps, sticky-coated red balls that trick the hatching apple maggot fly into thinking this is a good place to lay her eggs when she pops up out of the ground in the spring, having made it through the winter by burrowing under the frost into the ground. She got there of course because an infected apple was left on the ground in the fall. Hanging those traps in itself is a lot of work.

But getting rid of half the pruning is huge. For most of you new owners of apple trees, you are under the misconception that trees just have to be planted. That is so wonderful to believe that. That quite idiotically parallels an equally stupid saying: Children raise themselves. Wish it was true. Pruning is a ton of work. And children?

This is the first year in almost 50 years that I have not had to water. 

As usual, every year I learn something. “Do you thin your newly forming apples?” My Amish neighbot asked me that. Now, getting rid of half the apples on a tree is really helpful. The labor involved is staggering. He shows up with several small boys who think climbing around trees and throwing apples around is just the best ever.

But it really paid off. Those thinned trees they did far outperformed ones that weren’t, which I did not do: Bigger, prettier, healthier apples. Commercial growers spray a chemical that is called blossom drop. We’re organic. Can’t do that. Next best is pick-thinning, a ton of work.

So, what apple trees are looking really good this year.

State Fair apple trees are the earliest producing at this latitude, and are having a great year.

Honeycrisp and their inherent inability to lift necessary minerals from the earth are as usual producing apples that will keep about one week. A continuing disappointment. I am sincerely sorry they’re taking up space here. Their apples rot. Who knew.

Zestar, which came out about 1999, are really showing their stuff. Nice, big, keep well, like it here. Wealthy, an old variety, are also standing out this year. Fireside, Sweet 16, McIntosh, and Prairie Spy are growing their quite proficient apples, as usual.

Were I fifty years younger, I would plant more State Fair. More Zestar, more Wealthy, more Sweet 16, and maybe more Regent.

Hey, you new apple tree wannabes; Support that tree when you plant it. Screen it against rabbits and mice. (Do not use solid white plastic tubes. Those only work on non-apple trees; they will kill your apple trees.) And water them. And prune them. And, and, and.

The funnest thing this year? Watching those Amish boys doing something young boys love–climbing trees and throwing things. 

It’s a great year for apples.